


The Tunnel

by zed_azrael



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Apocalypse, Gen, be kind to our planet kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-19
Updated: 2014-06-19
Packaged: 2018-02-05 09:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1812757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zed_azrael/pseuds/zed_azrael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In Olkiluoto, Finland, the first tomb is sealed. The danger must kept locked away for 100,000 years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Tunnel

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to [livejournal](http://zed-azrael.livejournal.com/24705.html#cutid1) on 11 April 2010.

_You are now in the tunnel._  
 _This place is not a place of honour._  
 _No highly esteemed deeds are commemorated here._  
 _You should not have come here._

**Eurajoki, Finland**  
2120 C.E.

It is a quiet event and nobody is surprised. No one wonders why it barely makes a full article in the newspapers. After discussing and labouring over it for over one hundred years, it hardly seems like news.

From where they are standing, the mouth of the tunnel does not look like much: a yawning arch framed by the face of an imposing and blank wall. Where once the tunnel cut through the stone and stretched deep and unending into the ground, only a few shallow metres remain, dutifully being filled with bentonite clay blocks and pellets. The monotony of grey stone and clay is broken up by the shock of the neon yellow uniforms of the workers. A pile of slumping bags of cement sit not far from the tunnel, waiting to be mixed and folded into the end of the tunnel, sealing it and all its contents off.

Sealing it off, Finland hopes, until the end of eternity. The depths of the tunnel extend five kilometres underground, spiralling down and feathering off like the roots of a decaying tree. This tunnel, this cave, this tomb: ONKALO. This is the final resting place for 1% of the world’s nuclear waste. It will be the first of many. And, for the sake of mankind, it will never be opened.

Finland’s eyes lift towards the sky. Each day, the blue wanes away into something a little less than itself, retreating deeper into the ashen grey clouds. His heart aches at the thought of the rapidly approaching day when the blue is no longer blue. Today, if he blurs his eyes a little, he thinks he can see a small pinprick of light shining weakly through the haze.

There’s a soft cough from Finland’s left, and he glances over at the nations standing less than a metre from him. France stands in a quasi-casual slouch, never looking more his part than he has now, with delicate curls of smoke weaving away from the cigarette held loosely in his fingers. His golden hair, once his laughing pride, looks weary, almost limp against his cheeks. His goatee isn’t quite as precisely trimmed. He still looks beautiful. “Huh,” France says. “Not very many of us came today.” He taps some ash from the end of his cigarette. The chalky powder sinks through the air, landing in a small clump on the toe of one of his scuffed leather shoes. “You would think more of us would come to see it through,” he says unnecessarily.

England scoffs, and his tone suggests that he is merely being contrary for its own sake, for the sake of normalcy. “Why would anyone come to witness this?” His face is compressed into a tight scowl; the grooves in his forehead are intensified by the unforgiving line of his furrowed brows.

“We are here,” Finland puts in, voice cutting through the noise of the construction. He gets a few empty stares, as if to say, _No, we are not._ His words are not challenged.

“You would still think there would be more of us here,” France says. He flicks away his cigarette and Finland winces.

Sweden carefully grinds it into the pavement with his heel before picking it up with the tips of his forefingers. He says, “It is this sort of carelessness that is destroying us.” His face is expressionless, but his voice is not. He never says things that are unimportant. France has the decency to look abashed and retrieves the cigarette butt.

There’s a growing rumble of a car coming in from down the road. Finland cranes his neck to get a better view of the long-outdated hybrid puttering up the path. Somewhere behind him, Estonia says, “I just got a message from Japan. He just instilled a law forcing some of his citizens to move to refugee camps at Australia’s place. He can’t support his growing population.”

“Australia won’t be able to handle all these people pouring in for very long,” England says. “And Russia is already taking in people from China.”

Someone asks, voice small, “Will we survive this?” But they all ignore the speaker.

The car pulls over on the side near some of the stationary equipment, and America hurdles out from the passenger’s seat. Even from a distance, Finland can see the dark circles under his eyes and the sloppiness of his dress. They all seem to look like this these days. America bounds over to them, his mouth working as quickly as his feet. “Sorry I’m late, I got confused at the airport. I couldn’t get the name of this place right. Your names are complicated, Finland.” A pencil is balanced jauntily behind one ear and his glasses are slightly askew, emphasising the near-manic gleam in his wide smile. There’s a faded coffee stain on the edge of his collar and his tie hangs undone over his neck. “What’s this place called again?” America asks, pulling a crumpled map out of his pocket. “Kolky?”

“Kolky is in Ukraine,” Finland tells him. “This is Olkiluoto.”

America makes a face and shoves the map back into his pocket. “I was close.”

“America,” the one with the soft voice says suddenly, “you need to move your incoming refugees further north. I can’t uproot my own people to make more space for yours.”

“Where’s Russia?” England asks, which is much more important.

“Still back at the space agency with Germany and the guys,” America replies. He squints off at the remaining tunnel. “I told them I’d update them when I got back.” There’s an unmistakeable jitteriness to him, and Finland realises that he probably has not slept in days. America says brightly, “We think we might have enough research to plan an expedition to Mars. Try and get the atmosphere to our liking and stuff.” He rubs at his nose. “We just need the cash.”

Norway laughs.

Estonia mutters, “It’ll be worth it if the trip is a success.” His eyes are completely obscured by a film of greasy fingerprints on his glasses.

Stung, America’s eyebrows arch upwards and his thin shoulders hunch in on themselves. “It will be!”

There’s silence after that, and the workers by the tunnel begin mixing cement to form the final plug for the hole. It will be a relief to see the last traces of that unfathomable darkness vanish. To know the scalding heat of its poison is fettered back.

“I’ll be thrilled to have all my canisters out of interim storage,” England says mildly. He peers up at Sweden, asking, “Your system will be finished soon, I believe?”

Sweden nods. “In another ten years, at best.”

America looks up from his cellphone. His text messages with Germany are filled with the word ‘colonise.’ His fingers are shaking. “Finland,” he says, “did you ever figure out what you’re going to put in front of the entrance?” He pauses, considering. “Or what’s gonna be left of it?”

“What possible kind of warning could one put up?” Norway wonders. “How can you possibly keep people away for 100,000 years? These dangers will always be present.”

France murmurs something about this being a better alternative. “At least this is a much safer environment to house the spent fuel. All the aboveground facilities are in constant danger of terrorist attack and natural disasters. Much more concerning.”

Finland’s vision wavers as he looks at Norway. “You think that people will try breaking into the tunnel?”

Norway shrugs one shoulder. “Didn’t we enter the pyramids?” There’s a heavy silence, and Norway continues, “There is no guarantee that the humans of the future will remember the importance of these tunnels. The curiosity of mankind is something just as eternal as death—perhaps even more so. How can we possibly succeed where all our ancestors failed? We cannot expect humans to sit by idly and not be tempted to examine. It’s unrealistic.”

“You think ONKALO will fail?” England says. He butchers the pronunciation.

“I think,” Norway says, “that humans will always be the source of their undoing. If it isn’t through war, then it’s through their need to sate their curiosity.”

“Then why are we even doing all this?” Estonia asks. “If we’re just going to die, why bother?”

“Because we must try.” Everyone glances over at the pale Nation standing near America. His cheeks flush from the attention and he straightens his glasses, embarrassed. “Because we love our people.”

The workers begin to seal ONKALO. Finland murmurs, “I’ll think of something to ward people away. We must do everything we can to keep our people alive.”

Sweden places a large hand on Finland’s shoulder. His fingers are cold even through the material of Finland’s coat. “This world is dying,” Sweden says gently. “Our people cannot survive here for much longer.” The consensus here is a viscous heat in Finland’s throat and behind his eyes. America does not look up from his texting.

 

_You are heading towards a place where you should never go._  
 _What is there is dangerous and repulsive._  
 _The danger will still be present in your time, as it is in ours._  
 _Please turn around and never come back._

**61°14’5.98”N, 21°28’57.00”E, Earth  
** 77.52K M.E.

“Can you imagine what life would have been like here during the most recent Ice Age? Look at the cracks along the bedrock; this whole area must have been covered in metres of ice.”

“Kilometres, even. Let’s head down that hill. There might be more ruins there.”

“Sounds good. This area clearly had something big on it.”

“I don’t understand why there haven’t been more expeditions here… Earth is fascinating! It’s difficult to imagine that _Homo sapiens_ and their ancestors could have lived here for as long as they did.”

“Do you think we could have lasted down here during the end of the Common Era?”

“Definitely not. Our ancestors did go to Mars for a reason. But it doesn’t seem so bad around here now. I guess a lot can change in less than a hundred thousand years, though.”

“Yeah…huh…”

“…”

“—Hey!! Check that out!”

“Where’re you going?!”

“!!!!!”

“W-wait for me!”

“Hurry up!”

“S-slow down, damn it!”

“Heh, sorry. I got so excited, I—just come here and take a look at this! Here, help me move some of this rubble. Look, there’s a plaque here.”

“Oh my… This is quite a find…”

“It’s too bad these languages died out.”

“We’ll scan it later and pass it on to someone more well-versed in the old languages. This rubble, is this cement?”

“I think so, and there’s some kind of clay here as well. This is beautifully preserved—this looks like it’s only sustained some surface damage.”

“Hm… This land is basically flat, so this entrance must have led somewhere underground.”

“Underground? This whole area is solid rock. Digging a tunnel here must have taken extraordinary time and effort.”

“Definitely. Which brings up the question of why they would bother to dig it at all if they were just going to seal it again. And since this whole structure is virtually undamaged, it’s clear that the engineers behind it were hoping it would remain closed.”

“They really went to some effort to fill this thing, didn’t they?”

“Yeah. I wonder why.”

 

_There is nothing here for you.  
Go no further._

**Author's Note:**

>   * [ONKALO](http://www.posiva.fi/en/research_development/onkalo)  is to be the [final resting place](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4948378.stm) for all of Finland's spent nuclear fuel. Its construction is run by [Posiva Oy](http://www.posiva.fi/en/), and in its [completion](http://www.posiva.fi/en/final_disposal/general_time_schedule_for_final_disposal), [ONKALO](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olkiluoto_Nuclear_Power_Plant#Onkalo_waste_repository) will contain approximately 1% of the world's nuclear waste, which is currently being kept in interim storage facilities.
>   * The repository must stay [sealed](http://www.posiva.fi/en/final_disposal/final_disposal_facility/encapsulation_and_final_disposal_-animation/) for at least [100,000 years](http://fopnews.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/containing-uncertainity-design-for-infinite-quarantine/)\--until the spent nuclear rods are no longer radioactive.
>   * In 2009, Danish director Michael Madsen created a thriller documentary on the [construction](http://www.posiva.fi/files/804/repository_layout.jpg) and [completion](http://www.posiva.fi/en/final_disposal/the_principles_for_final_disposal) of ONKALO. His [documentary](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sioLKHyf108), [Into Eternity](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXif1MThJ6k), addresses the potential dangers ONKALO faces: climate change, natural disaster, and man's curiosity.
>   * The italicised words on the right are the sentences that future men will meet, should they ever [enter](http://www.posiva.fi/files/147/onkalo.jpg) the [tunnel](http://www.enecho.meti.go.jp/rw/rikai/kengakukai/image/ONKALO.JPG).
> 



End file.
